Sunday, December 31, 2006

Japan Scans! Part 3

Yep, they're still coming. I'll probably be taking a break now and then to post about other subjects, but this scanning project will get done. Here's the next batch.

A surprising number of people are finding my blog in searches for Kyoto, kokeshi or Nakayama dolls. So, here's one for all of you that fit that description - the Nakayama Doll Manufacturing Company brochure (multi-page PDF):

They told us specifically not to pay any attention to that brochure, because most of what's in there is no longer sold by the company. The nature of their business is that pretty much everything is a limited run, so they have a lot of dolls similar to what's in here, but not many that are exactly the same.

Here's the English version of the Tokyo Tower brochure - I also have (or had) a Japanese version but I may have given it away already. (Multi-page PDF):


Tons of cool stuff in there. Tokyo Tower's a happenin' place.

When we first got to Tokyo, we went to the restaurant owned and run by the "King of Iron Chefs", Hiroyuki Sakai. Anyone who's seen the original Japanese version of Iron Chef knows that while yeah, the show was always intended to be campy fun, the food really was taken seriously and the chefs on the show really are among the top chefs in Japan. So, we took a couple souvenirs from Sakai's restaurant. This is the card they have at the table for you, front and back (and no, I don't know what the back says):


This was our check! Sorry for the wrinkles, it went through a wash!


Yeah, pretty expensive, but not outrageous by "nice restaurant" standards. About $100 per person. It's a prix fixe menu, which is nice at a place like this - no worrying about wasting money on a course you don't like, or trying to save by ordering the cheapest entree. All of the courses were fabulous too, and this is not "nouveaux" French - we were stuffed by the time we left. On the other hand, it is the kind of restaurant that does not put salt or pepper on the table. You're expected to eat your food as it's prepared.

I promised a shinkansen ticket in an earlier post, and here it is - top is the base transport fare, bottom is the express fare/reserved seat ticket. (Not front and back; these are two separate tickets, and you need both to ride on any shinkansen, reserved seat or not):


Here's one of the many Tokyo subway maps we picked up. This one's all Japanese; there are other ones that are about half and half. Still others were also all Japanese but slightly different. It's pretty confusing. Note that the Tokyo subway is now officially the "Tokyo Metro", but nobody actually calls it that (perhaps just not yet):


And just for fun, here's my Sega Joypolis ticket (front and back). It's interesting - hard to tell by the scan, but it's actually silver with white text, and whenever you add money or use it somewhere, you put it in a machine that gives your card back with a new transaction history on it. Everything you do with the card in Joypolis is written on it. Obviously, you can see we didn't do much:


I've got a huge brochure/map from Joypolis scanned to post later also... I just need to organize it. It's like 20 separate pages.

Well, more to come soon!

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:26 AM

    Jeff,
    I left a post on your blog entry - Spontaneuos Lung Collapse - Part 2. I just wanted to make sure you saw it and hope you have a chance to respond. Thanks, Scott Impressive Blogspot page by the way.

    ReplyDelete

About This Blog

This is increasingly not a blog about Alphabet City, New York. I used to live in the East Village and work on Avenue B, but I no longer do. Why don't I change the name if I'm writing about Japan and video games and guitars? Because New Yorkers are well-rounded people with varied interests, and mine have gone increasingly off the rails over the years. And I don't feel like changing the name. I do still write about New York City sometimes.

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